ArchiveMay 2015

By: Metro Published on Thu May 28 2015 The reports are in on the Gardiner. The analysis is done. The numbers have been crunched and crunched again. It all points to the same conclusion: When Mayor John Tory and 44 other members of council meet on June 10, they should vote to remove the eastern part of the Gardiner between Jarvis Street and the Don Valley Parkway. Tear it down, and don’t look back...

By: Metro Published on Wed May 27 2015 During the Gardiner-focused part of his chat with TVO’s Steve Paikin, Mayor John Tory just couldn’t seem to stop using the words “common sense.” I counted five direct appeals to common sense over the course of a 10-minute segment, all in the service of defending his support of the so-called hybrid option for the eastern section of the Gardiner Expressway...

By: Metro Published on Mon May 25 2015 The good news out of last week’s budget committee meeting? The city is rocking a $190-million surplus from the 2014 budget year. The bad news? As has been the case with every City of Toronto budget in recent memory, a chunk of that budget surplus is due to the city not hiring people to fill positions. The budget nerds call this “gapping,” and it’s...

By: Metro Published on Fri May 22 2015 Once Mayor John Tory and council vote whether to maintain the Gardiner East or replace it with a boulevard, there’s no going back. The decision will impact the city for generations. So, please, can we not get distracted by arguing about road tolls? Coun. James Pasternak has been all over the news this week with a proposal to implement tolls on the Gardiner...

By: Matt Elliott Metro, Metro Published on Wed May 20 2015 I wasn’t really surprised when Mayor John Tory announced that he’d be supporting the “hybrid” option for the East Gardiner Expressway last week. But I was surprised by his timing. After a few weeks of playing coy, Tory publicly confirmed his support for the hybrid on Tuesday, the day before city hall’s Public Works committee was scheduled...

By: Metro Published on Tue May 12 2015 The ongoing debate over the future of the East Gardiner Expressway has become pretty complicated. The reports are dense. The terminology is technical. The arguments — both for and against — are varied. So like most complicated debates, there’s a real danger this boils down populism and gut feelings… and there’s nothing I hate more than municipal...